Pumpkin Princess

Every year my brother and sis-in-law take the kids to the pumpkin farm. Last year there was only Tag. This year Maebe gets to go for the visit. It's funny that the two of them have such different personalities. Tag is a cheeky monkey and was always a camera star. Maebe has the introspective and contemplative look about her. She also still has all that crazy hair which I think is the cutest thing ever!


I must admit to missing the little munchkins although I barely know them. It is an interesting feeling to feel so drawn to something without any long-standing context to back up the desire. But whenever I see pictures of them I just want to hop on a plane and go hug them. I guess that makes me a typical aunt. And I guess it's easy to be so gushy because I don't see them at their worst. But I know I would love them anyway. Tag and Maebe are the true bounty of my Thanksgiving and they are the best treats for my Halloween.

Personality DNA

I found this fun personality review online and thought I would share the results. I think it paints a rather good picture of me and some of my weaknesses. What do you think?

I am a Creator

Imagination, confidence, willingness to explore, and appreciation of beauty make you a CREATOR.

Independent, and you enjoy self-sufficiency.

Defying convention, you are very innovative, and have a vivid imagination.

The look of things is important to you, and you have a keen eye for aesthetic beauty in multiple arenas.

You have a strong interest in what is new and exciting—and that includes forging ahead with new ideas, not simply discovering what is already out there.

Your eagerness to seek new and varied experiences leads you into many different situations.

You're not set on one way of doing things, and you are creative when it comes to finding novel solutions to complex problems.

You trust yourself to be innovative and resourceful.

Your confidence allows you to take your general awareness and channel it into creativity.

You are balanced in your approach to problem-solving, not letting your emotions hold you up.

You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.

You have a strong sense of style and value your personal presentation - friends may even seek your style advice from time to time.

If you want to be different:
Appreciate the earthly, practical elements of things—there is beauty in form as well.

While you are good at thinking abstractly, focusing on details a bit more may help you discover things about the world.


HOW YOU RELATE TO OTHERS
You are Free-Wheeling

Your charismatic nature, liveliness, and independence make you FREE-WHEELING.

You don't mind being in the spotlight, preferring social gatherings to quiet nights at home.

You take a practical approach to people, not getting too involved in their feelings—or their business.

At the same time, your acceptance of others leads you to be understanding of their life circumstances, even if you don't quite understand their emotional reactions to some things.

Although you have a wide circle of friends, you're very discerning as to whom you can trust.

You're not rigid in your beliefs about the world, and you don't want to impose your perspective on others, but at the same time, you know that plenty of people don't always act responsibly.

Engaging with others is a large part of how you live in the world, and most importantly, it plays a role in how you see yourself—you tend to learn a lot about yourself in situations where you are with other people.

You have an understanding of the complexities of situations, and you don't judge others too hastily.

If you want to be different:
Your open-mindedness about the world gives you a great perspective on things, but your lack of trust in others limits how close you can get with them. Try opening up to people a bit more without losing your healthy skepticism.

While being the life of the party will occasionally come naturally to you, be sure to reserve time for yourself—see what you can learn by spending some time observing the world rather than just by diving in.

If you would like to try your own test go here.

A Frustration

I am having a crisis of focus these days. It is a haunting annoyance in the back of my brain that is drowning out my rationality. This is nothing to new to me. I have faced this all of my life and I have yet to figure out how to make it go away. I admit that I don't think it will go away - I will just have to get better at dealing with it. But this is the problem, as I get older I have more things in my mind that require solid attention. I don't have the luxury of being a kid with all its free mental time to devote to this ailment. What is it that tortures me so? It is infatuation. It is my crushing-ness on the man-candy. It is that useless, day-dreaming-ness that vascilates between tickling my mind and kicking my ass. What's a girl to do?

A New Mantra

Play it a little cool.
Be Nice.
Remember that you are already gorgeous.

Popular Music

Three new shows debuted this week all about the decadence of the rich. One is a teen soap waiting to fill the "OC" vaccuum (Gossip Girl), one is a primetime soap of family dysfunction (Dirty Sexy Money) and one is a guy version of "Desperate Housewives" (Big Shots).

I enjoyed all three shows. Gossip Girl is on my must-see guilty pleasure list but I will never schedule around it because it is available on CTV broadband at my leisure. Dirty Sexy Money has the best cast of any new show and the quickest wit. It is a delightful mix of "Dynasty" & "Arrested Development" but I am not sure how long it can sustain its edge. Big Shots is a waste as far as actual story-telling goes but the eye-candy is good so it will likely stay around for the season. As if to counter the tide of low-end reality programs, these three new entries all center on people with means, people with BIG houses and wine cellars and helicopters and designer clothes.

But the kicker is that ALL three shows featured the SAME song at some point in the pilot episode. Yes, the SAME song. So apparently, "Young Folks" by Swedish group Peter, Bjorn & John is THE anthem of mainstream TV decadence this season. Admittedly it is a catchy tune. So good call PB&J promotors - you got my attention. You can check out the song of the season (and its cute video) here.

Sexy Season

It has been a busy week. For the first time in ages I had something to do every evening this week. Between classes and the film festival my only night off was going to be Friday. Then I got an "emergency" phone call from Wade about the painting of the built-in bar he was working on and my Friday night became a home-decor/painting/renovation exravaganza. It felt great to be involved. To be helping my friends. To be productive. And by the time I was back on Saturday morning the bar was looking snazzy and the place was on its way to hosting the boys' Take Sexy Back party.

It was the first day of fall and we all piled into the boys' place to rock our hotness. My plan to be "responsible" and only drink my white wine did not last and my stellar drunk self was on a roll. But it was a fantastic event. I felt good being surrounded by friends and interesting new people and not feeling any pressure to be anything but myself. It has been a long time since I felt that way. To top it off I was sporting a new set of fun hair extensions in order to unleash my inner supermodel - they were SO much fun. Hopefully I'll be able to figure them out in the future! We'll see. By 4am it was time to head home. It was the perfect ending to a big week and a great way to kickoff a new season.

Crush Boy Alert

I first noticed Hugh Dancy when he was a flop-haired brit-boy playing hero to the enchanted Ella of Anne Hathaway. He was "cute" but not take notice cute. He earned a bit more scruff in King Arthur but since he was playing Galahad the innocence was maintained. (Also, working opposite Clive Owen tends to take the viewers eyes OFF of you!) But then earlier this year I saw a little romantic flick called Evening and Hugh Dancy stole the show. He is still a tad boyish but that has now morphed into a wonderful charm. He has a full smile and happy eyes. He has, in fact become quite dreamy.

Which brings to me the full manisfestation of his crush-worthyness in the recent release The Jane Austin Book Club. Hugh plays Grigg, a bike-short-wearing, secretly wealthy IT support worker who is invited to join a group of love-lorn & love-lost ladies as they savour the works of Jane Austin. His invitation is due to the efforts of Jocelyn's (Maria Bello - stunning as always) attempt to bring some man-candy into the path of her recently heartbroken friend Sylvia (Amy Brenneman). But Grigg only has eyes for Jocelyn and the blossoming may-december romance between the two is one of the film's most enjoyable aspects. Much of this enjoyment is thanks to Dancy who has proven himself to be a wonderful screen presence. Affability is not a typical leading man trait - but leave it to Hugh and may as well be the best one.

Rocking My Inner Georgia O'Keefe

... otherwise known as the angles you see when you're not getting any. Actually, I really like this image in spite of its poor focus. I find the colour really pleasing.